EUGENE, Ore. — The Washington Huskies were without two offensive starters on Saturday against the Ducks.
Sophomore receiver Chico McClatcher, the former Federal Way High star and UW’s leading receiver, did not make the trip due to injury. Neither did fifth-year senior Shane Brostek, the Huskies’ starting right guard.
McClatcher entered the game with 313 receiving yards — best on the team — on 16 receptions with four touchdowns.
Fourth-year junior Andrew Kirkland, a Portland native, started at right guard in Brostek’s place.
UW coach Chris Petersen said neither injury is thought to be serious, and that he expects that both players will be able to return for Washington’s Oct. 22 home game against Oregon State. The Huskies have a bye next weekend.
“We think we’re going to have them back for our next game,” Petersen said. “That’s what we think, but you never know. Some guys recover faster than you think and slower, but right now we think we’ll have them back.”
Brostek’s absence didn’t hurt UW’s running game. The Huskies had 322 yards rushing through the game’s first three quarters and finished with 378, including a career-best 197 for sophomore Myles Gaskin.
McClatcher’s absence didn’t hurt UW’s passing game, either. Starting quarterback Jake Browning completed 22 of 28 passes for 304 yards and a single-game UW record six touchdowns. Junior receiver Dante Pettis led the Huskies with eight catches for 134 yards and two touchdowns, while junior receiver John Ross totaled 94 yards and three touchdowns on nine receptions.
Browning’s big day
Browning not only set a Huskies single-game school record by throwing for six touchdown passes, but his eight total touchdowns — he had two rushing — tied for most in a single game in Division 1 this season. Arizona State running back Kalen Ballage and Louisville quarterback Lamar Jackson also did it.
Browning now has 23 touchdown passes (and just two interceptions) in six games this season. He threw 16 all of last year.
“Everyone’s going to talk about the yards and touchdowns,” Browning said, “but for me it’s just doing my job, going through my reads. I didn’t think there was anything outside of what I was supposed to, so that’s just to Coach (Jonathan) Smith for preparing us all the right way.”
He might not have a fun Sunday, though, due to the unsportsmanlike conduct penalty he committed while scoring on a 1-yard touchdown run on UW’s first possession.
Browning pointed at an Oregon defender in a taunting fashion as he crossed the goal line. He seemed embarrassed afterward, saying “that’s not who I am,” and “that’s not what I was raised to be.”
Said Petersen: “He’ll have a hard day tomorrow.”
Big margin
Washington’s 70-21 victory over the Ducks was not the Huskies’ largest margin of victory over their rival to the south.
But it was the most points the Huskies have ever scored against the Ducks.
Their previous highs: a 66-0 victory in 1974, and 63-6 in 1951.
Petersen didn’t seem thrilled about scoring 70 against the Ducks, who are coached by his good friend Mark Helfrich.
“I don’t think anybody, certainly me, wants to score 70 points,” Petersen said, explaining that the game’s fast pace simply led to more scoring opportunities.
“I’m glad they executed,” he said. “It is what it is.”
Extra points
Senior defensive end Joe Mathis had another big game, following his two-sack performance last week against Stanford by recording another sack and three tackles for loss on Saturday. … The Huskies were 7-for-7 in the red zone, scoring touchdowns on every trip.
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